Deer & Deer Hunting Forums: White Tail Deer Hunting Forum

The conventional wisdom is that you can tell the direction a buck is traveling by the position of the rub on the tree.I think this can be a little misleading. I have seen several bucks in person and on video step around a tree when making a rub.I believe the only true way to tell his direction of travel is to find a rub line. This will tell you the general direction he is headed along that trail .If the majority of the rubs are on the west sides of the trees, then you can pretty well figure he is headed east on that trail. Don't assume you can figure out his travel route with just one rub. Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Like to hear from you. Good luck and hunt safe. Frank

Author and Pro Greg Miller has written extensively about rubs and how he uses them. Yes while it is true that bucks can and will circle a tree, more often than not they are rubbing in the direction they are moving towards. As you mentioned the best indicators are rub lines, not only for direction but for habitat. Rubs (like scrapes) are signposts used to mark a bucks territory and provide obvious indicators to both other bucks and does of where it hangs its hat. They will most often create rub lines just outside or not far off from where they are bedding. And if you find a grouping of rubs fashioned in a circular to semi circular pattern, bingo...your just outside his bedding. Also, while it is not a hard and fast rule, generally speaking, the larger the rub, the larger the buck that made it. Miller goes on further to say wrist sized diameter trees or larger are generally made by mature bucks. But looking at not only the size, but the height of the rub as well as the condition of any other trees, saplings within close proximity can give you an indication of the spread on a buck as well. So how do you use this information? For starters depending on the size of the rub, you've been immediately alerted to the presence of a mature deer in the area. If the shavings are fresh on the ground you also know its been recent. If you have a rub line chances are your not far from his bedding area and the side that was rubbed is generally pointing towards the direction he came from...also useful in establishing whether this buck was coming from feeding or going to feeding...important in establishing if this is a morning route or evening route...mature bucks generally take different routes going to or coming back from feeding. So how do you hunt rubs? Don't hunt on top of them, but preferably within view of them and place your stand 15-20 yrds off the trail leading to them.

Author and Pro Greg Miller has written extensively about rubs and how he uses them. Yes while it is true that bucks can and will circle a tree, more often than not they are rubbing in the direction they are moving towards. As you mentioned the best indicators are rub lines, not only for direction but for habitat. Rubs (like scrapes) are signposts used to mark a bucks territory and provide obvious indicators to both other bucks and does of where it hangs its hat. They will most often create rub lines just outside or not far off from where they are bedding. And if you find a grouping of rubs fashioned in a circular to semi circular pattern, bingo...your just outside his bedding. Also, while it is not a hard and fast rule, generally speaking, the larger the rub, the larger the buck that made it. Miller goes on further to say wrist sized diameter trees or larger are generally made by mature bucks. But looking at not only the size, but the height of the rub as well as the condition of any other trees, saplings within close proximity can give you an indication of the spread on a buck as well. So how do you use this information? For starters depending on the size of the rub, you've been immediately alerted to the presence of a mature deer in the area. If the shavings are fresh on the ground you also know its been recent. If you have a rub line chances are your not far from his bedding area and the side that was rubbed is generally pointing towards the direction he came from...also useful in establishing whether this buck was coming from feeding or going to feeding...important in establishing if this is a morning route or evening route...mature bucks generally take different routes going to or coming back from feeding. So how do you hunt rubs? Don't hunt on top of them, but preferably within view of them and place your stand 15-20 yrds off the trail leading to them.

During scouting 2 years ago, I was walking along a logging road in the woods and came up upon several large rubs all about a hundred yards apart from each other. They were all on the east side of the of the tree all on the same side of the road. They ended at the edge of a field. I never saw the buck that made them. But it got me thinking of a few articles I've read about how bucks use rubs as territory markers and route identification. It looked like the way these rubs were patterned that the buck was using them as 'route markers'. I could be wrong. Seeing those rubs really gets the buck fever going.

Your assumption is probably right and I would keep that rub line in mind in future years because other bucks may use it as well. One buck liked it for some reason, chances are good that if it goes undisturbed, other bucks will use it as well.

Jake

Genesis 27:3 Take your bow and quiver full of arrows out into the open country, and hunt some wild game.....

The farm I hunt now I've been on for 15 years now, and I can go right to specific areas that have trees with old rub scars that go back a decade or more. They rub in the same area, and sometimes on the same TREE. Most of these trees have their rubs on one side, also.

I use rub lines like this, especially ones that show up year after year, along with trails and scrapes to determine buck movement and location. Most all of these directional rubs that show up in given areas are also areas that are in deeper cover, and out of sight of open areas.

I've shot a lot of nice bucks in areas like this, including my Booner.

I hunt in areas of some impossible brush and thickets, but once you really get in there , you would be surprised what you find. I found many massive rubs and scrapes in thickets so dense you couldnt see them from a distance. These are areas worth paying attention to.

I'd guess that this is a good sized buck. As a general rule, I've heard the higher up on the tree the rub is located, the larger the buck

"This is the world we are born into -- we should never let that slip away from us. May it never cease to stimulate, inspire and humble us." from Stalking & Still-Hunting: The Ground Hunter's Bible by G. Fred Asbell

It looks pretty good, like a decent buck as there are some pieces of bark pulling away from the tree. Were there shavings on the ground under the rub? That is a key piece of evidence to determining. When shavings are found on the ground, they are typically caused by a deer that has spurs or small kickers down by the base of the rack. These spurs typically show up on deer 3.5 years old or better.